The Eclipse of the Century at Grahamwood Elementary

What a week! Grahamwood Elementary’s students, faculty, staff, parents and stakeholders had an incredible afternoon viewing the eclipse on August 21st. For nearly an hour beginning at about 12:30 p.m., the whole Grahamwood family used donated eclipse glasses to see an event that had not happened for nearly 100 years.

Leading up to the event, Grahamwood’s teachers utilized eclipse related lessons developed by the Pink Palace Museum and Shelby County Schools. Additional information on the event was researched onsite at Grahamwood and shared collaboratively between our teachers. In the end, approximately 1100 gathered on Grahamwood’s lawns to share time watching, discussing and learning from this event.

“I think it was awesome,” exclaimed 1st grader Cameron Massengale upon viewing the eclipse. “I learned that when the Moon gets between the Sun and the Earth, the air gets cooler and as it gets darker, some animals think it is nighttime and look for a place to sleep.”

Principal Pete Johnson observed, “Viewing the eclipse was a truly amazing experience that built memories our students will carry with them for the rest of their lives!”